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  • Hewitt hopes rise on clay after Houston title

    4/14/09 1:20 PM | Johan Lindahl
    Hewitt hopes rise on clay after Houston title Lleyton Hewitt has suddenly come alive on clay, his hopes aflame after winning in Houston and claiming his first title on the surface in ten years.

    "Now I'm looking really forward to the French Open," said the former No. 1 now ranked 57th who hopped on a transatlantic jet to take up a wild card this week in Monte Carlo.

    Hewitt has start to show signs of life after starting last week at 88th in the world and briefly dropping out of the Top 100 earlier this season. The cause of his dramas was a slow recovery from hip surgery last summer after Beijing.

    Hewitt's two career clay titles both came in the US, the first in 1999 in Florida. He's played Monte Carlo only twice, in 2002 and 2004, where he got to the third round. "Obviously playing Monte Carlo is a bonus, but I'll start worrying it later," he said.

    Due to a rain delay before his final, Hewitt was unable to make the earliest possible flight from Houston which would have gotten him to Europe a full day before his opening match against Marat Safin. But there was surely no disappointment as he lifted his first honor on the ATP since winning Las Vegas in 2007.

    "This is what all the hard work is for, to play weeks like this and have this kind of feeling at the end," said the winner. "It makes going through the (hip) surgery and all the hard work worth it. It's good stuff."

    "It's a big day to win a claycourt event. I feel every year I'm getting better on clay."

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